Boy this ones delicious

There's a great line from Peter Novick's book That Noble Dream in which he quotes Gene Genovese explaining how he got kicked out of the Communist Party for 'having zigged when I was supposed to zag'.

The quote is from memory. So I may not have it precisely right; but that's the gist. And I am often reminded of it when I see examples of party-liners cut off at the knees churning out the claptrap of the day while the party leaders are themselves about to shift course entirely.

And see here this clip from today's Washington Times, sent on to me by reader JI, apparently picked up by The Corner ...

Conservative activist Michael D. Brown said internal GOP polling being cited by party and administration emissaries purports to show that "70 percent of self-identified conservative voters have a favorable impression of Harriet Miers."

The emissaries are warning that ordinary Republicans beyond the Washington Beltway continue to support the nomination because they trust President Bush, even after several weeks of conservative opposition to her, according to several conservative Miers critics who have been courted by the White House.

The administration is "disappointed that conservatives inside the Beltway are fighting among ourselves over this nomination, and it fuels the fires for our enemies, for Democrats," said Mr. Brown, the former Federal Emergency Management Agency director.

So in just sixty days Brown goes from FEMA Director to disgraced crony to "conservative activist". Who says there are no second acts?